What is new media marketing? Connecting with a modern audience

Definition: New media marketing centers on promoting brands and selling products and services through established and emerging online channels, harnessing these elements of new media to engage potential and current customers. New media marketing encompasses many different mediums, including display advertising, content marketing and social media promotions. The objective of all new media marketing is to get consumers to interact with the brand, engaging them in a way that increases awareness and correlates to sales.

How is new media marketing changing ecommerce?

Consumers today are empowered with an incredible amount of information, allowing them to thoroughly research their purchases before contacting a business. In fact, most people decide to buy before talking to a sales professional, Web services company Market 8 reported. This paradigm shift between buyers and sellers has forced businesses to change their approach to marketing. New media helps online businesses:

Gather customer data: New media helps companies gather far more detail about their target customers. By using sophisticated programs like customer relationship management systems, businesses can collect information about their best customers and use it to nurture long-term relationships.

Build relationships: Since most customers guide themselves through the sales process, companies need to establish a relationships with them before they are ready to buy. Businesses use tools like social media to interact with people on a personal level, sharing information and experiences in a way that humanizes the brand.

Know when to sell: People are inundated with advertisements all day long. Studies have shown that the average person sees 5,000 ads or more every day according to market research firm SJ Insights, resulting in a certain amount of "ad blindness" among users browsing the Internet. How can your business stand out when the entire world is clambering for attention? Sometimes the solution is to stop promoting your brand and focus instead on people and their needs. Knowing when and how often to send out a sales message is a key component to new media marketing success.

Successful new media marketing strategies

New media marketing is an ever-changing effort for businesses. Here are just a few of the areas where brands are growing online.

Maintaining a dynamic website: It's no longer enough to just have a presence on the Web. Brands need dynamic websites with fresh content posted often, encouraging people to return and stay engaged with your brand.

Search engine optimization: Ranking on page one of search engine results is an important goal for every business. By continually updating your website with fresh, informative content and earning inbound links from quality websites, your business will see progressive gains in this important channel. By using advanced marketing analytics to link your content to specific conversion goals, you can easily quantify the impact of your efforts on the bottom line.

Social media marketing: Building relationships with people on social media depends on using good listening skills and responding to things people talk about. When people start thinking of your brand as a trusted resource, they are far more likely to do business with you.

Video marketing businesses: The market has discovered there is no better way to capture the attention of consumers than with video. About 65 percent of people will watch most of a video as compared to reading content, marketing enablement firm Brainshark reported. Companies can teach consumers how to use their products and demonstrate different features while also crafting a brand personality people enjoy.